KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIAN utility giants’ intent of building power plants in Indonesia could materialise sooner than expected as the Indonesian government is easing way of doing business and simplifying regulation processes.
Indonesian Liaison Minister in charge of bringing Malaysian investments Eko Putro Sandjojo told NST Business that any regulation process that can dampen foreign direct investments would be looked into.
For example, Indonesia was now in the midst of allowing the import and export of power supply with other countries.
NST Business understands that Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) would resume its US$1.6 billion (RM7.08 billion) project plan in Riau, Sumatera, in a partnership with Indonesia’s PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) after hitting a snag early this year.
A potential coal power plant project in North Kalimantan to provide cross-border supply of power to Sabah and Indonesian market could join the Riau prospect as TNB’s latest entry into the republic.
The Indonesian government’s call for smoother investment processes could also positively impact YTL Corp Bhd’s US$2.6 billion second power plant in Tanjung Jati and Eversendai Corp Bhd’s desire to build a power plant there.
Eko was, here, last week for the Indonesia-Malaysia business networking session, where he had private meetings with Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), TNB, YTL Corp and Eversendai, among others, to discuss their respective projects and plans in Indonesia.
He said Indonesia aims to replicate the same win-win situation model like that of Felda’s 37 per cent stake acquisition in PT Eagle High Plantations Tbk (EHP), where the latter benefited from the former’s investment and expertise.
Eko, who is also Indonesian Rural Minister, said he was thankful and welcomed Felda’s US$505 million (RM2.2 billion) investment into EHP as it could help develop the rural areas.
The country, he said, was committed to addressing other challenges of doing business, including bureaucracy and finding the right partner as it sees Malaysia as one of its key investors.
The Indonesian daily news portal, Metrotvnews previously reported that the Indonesian government was hopeful of attracting 20 trillion rupiah (RM6.6 billion) worth of investments from Malaysia.
“The president was keen to bring investments into Indonesia. He has appointed 12 ministers to solve problems of doing business in the country. My job is to take care of Malaysian investments into Indonesia,” said Eko.
“We are in the midst of deregulating and have 13 or 15 economic packages to make it easier to do business in Indonesia.
“In terms of ranking in doing business, we had jumped from the 106 position to 91 and hopefully we would improve further,” he added.